Lung Surgery
Our thoracic pages do not provide medical advice. If you need medical advice you should consult your own doctor in the first instance.
The Department of Thoracic (Lung) Surgery is the largest such unit in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK and Ireland. It specialises in the surgical treatment of chest diseases. The Department carries out over 1200 operations each year of which over 400 are for lung cancer.
The most common problems we deal with are:
• lung cancer
• cancer of the lining around the lung (mesothelioma)
• cancer from elsewhere in the body (lung metastases)
• lung collapse due to air (pneumothorax)
• fluid around the lung (pleural effusion)
• infection around the lung (empyema).
Patients may have experienced shortness of breath, a persistent cough, coughing up blood, chest pain, fevers, a chest infection or weight loss. Their symptoms are usually investigated with a chest x-ray or CT scan of the chest.
The most common operations we perform are video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS), which is a form of keyhole surgery, and removal of part (or all) of the lung. Robotic surgery is a newer form of keyhole surgery and we are increasingly performing operations using this. We also diagnose and treat other chest pathologies such as mediastinal tumours (middle of the chest), cysts or infections and chest wall deformities such as a ‘hollowed’ chest (pectus excavatum).
A range of information leaflets have been produced for patients by the Thoracic Surgery Department or by the Scottish Lung Cancer Nurses Forum and provide useful information on some common chest operations. These leaflets are available in the patient information section of our site.
Thoracic Surgery inpatient referrals
For all inpatient Thoracic Surgery referrals, please contact the on-call Consultant Thoracic Surgeon or on-call Cardiothoracic Registrar via switchboard 0141 951 5000.
Following discussion with the Thoracic team, please email completed referral form to thoracic@gjnh.scot.nhs.uk